On Nov. 6, a jury convicted Espindola of second-degree murder with the special allegation that he used a deadly weapon. Espindola also admitted to a prior prison term for sexual battery, burglary, felony evading, and vehicle theft.

The crime that eventually led to his capture took place on Jan. 14, 2006. Prior to trial, Espindola had been on the run for more than a decade.

The incident was sparked outside of a Visalia home, prosecutors said. Espindola was hanging out with family outside of a home when he started a getting into arguments with residents of an apartment complex across the street.

Eventually, a man, the boyfriend of one of the apartment’s residents, showed up.

Espindola threatened the victim before grabbing a knife from a nearby vehicle and stabbed the victim in the leg. The victim died a short time later from massive blood loss, according to an autopsy.

Espindola immediately fled the scene and traveled to Mexico.

But police never gave up the search for Espindola.

In 2015, violent crimes detectives received a tip on Espindola’s location and worked with Mexican authorities and the FBI to have him extradited back to the United States.